Chi Kung Tai Chi oral exams; full week at magic mystery massage school

This past week has been very full. We are learning Swedish Massage and we will start offering that to our clients on Monday from memory – there are only about 100 techniques to pack into an hour… oh and I sat in on oral exams all week meaning no breakfast or lunch break!

I am loving what I am studying though. For instance, here is some basic TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) advice which I wish I had learned in High School:

Yuan Chi – AKA pre-natal chi is non-renewable. When we run out of that, we are transitioning on to our next incarnation. The good news is that Zehn Chi – post-natal chi is renewable – we cultivate fresh Zehn Chi in many ways including eating healthy food (and the manner in which we consume it is important – saying blessings over our food increases the Chi), having a meditation practice, chanting sacred mantras, doing yoga or Chi Kung etc all can increase Zehn Chi. The kidneys determine how much Zehn Chi (renewable) and how much Yuan Chi (non-renewable) to use on any given activity. This is why we want to take care of our kidneys – in TCM kidneys are the most important organ. There is a ton more to say, but this is basically it in a nutshell – get good rest, practice self care, eat good food, breath clean air, get a reasonable amount of exercise (and you will probably live longer and happier) 🙂

I just have one more question to complete my oral exams Monday. That will be nice to get that behind me.

Oh – as a result of doing Swedish from memory, I am having to give 4 massages and receive 3 this weekend… (I know I shouldn’t complain).

We still have to learn Reflexology, although we have already started studying it and then that is all the modalities we are learning! Then it will be on to integrated massage where we combine elements with clients.

The last full day of massage school (in April), we are giving 4 treatments in 6 hours to mimic what it will be like working in a spa. It is called the Marathon Day – aptly named.

This coming weekend we have 3 full days of herbology – we will learn how to infuse herbs into our massage oil, how to make and use herb packs for pre- or post-massage bliss and more! I’m definitely looking forward to that! It does mean though that we won’t have a day off for two weeks.

We only have 26 days left of actual class but who’s counting? Pretty amazing how far we have come.

Oh yeah – I did 11 chair massages on Tuesday in a bank in just 3.5 hours! That was crazy – and my massage partner and I (she did 9 massages) did not get the message to put out a donation jar, so I only made one tip. Oh well. It was great experience – although I never want to treat so many people in such a short time again.

I have discovered a steep hill I can hike to and climb up in under an hour. I felt drawn to this hill for several weeks before finally summiting it 🙂  At the top there are hundreds of strands of prayer flags, a fire ring and a rock cairn of white-painted rocks which is a makeshift Buddhist shrine. Apparently just a hundred yards down the other side of this hill there are about a dozen retreat cabins with meditators in them year-round. No wonder I feel drawn to that location! (Longchen Jigme Samten Ling retreat center)

It is a nice hike too with an awesome view from the top – seeing for over 60 miles up and down and across the San Luis Valley – many snow capped peaks!

It is hard to believe that I will start packing my things in just 3 weeks! Then I am planning to visit Denver and Boulder for a few days – seeing a friend and his family and visiting a family friend from Hawaii days (haven’t seen her in over 20 years).

Finally, in Chi Kung we are learning a technique which myth has it, makes warriors invincible (I’m not going to do anything extreme, don’t worry). We are only practicing a part of the entire form that existed in the past. Actually it turns out I was doing this Chi Kung from videos for the past year, but now I know it a lot better and the breathing to go with it (it involves aggravatingly slow breathing, difficult to do at first)! Baduanjin Qigong

We are also learning a short form of Tai Chi which involves beautiful, graceful movements and foot work – it is slow motion martial arts. I LOVE IT! 24 Form Tai Chi Yang Style

Oh and I swear this is the last thing… we are about to start learning Water Chi Kung – having finished Tree Chi Kung weeks ago and just wrapped up Solar Chi Kung this past week. I’m excited about that as well! (If you only knew all that we were learning… this school really is an Alchemical learning environment)

Thanks for reading!

May all sentient beings known and unknown have all their needs met!

~km